200% of Nothing: An Eye-Opening Tour Through the Twists and Turns of Math Abuse and Innumeracy

Charles R. Crawford, formerly an associate professor of computer science
at York University, is currently a mathematics and computer-programming
consultant.

This book is a polemic against the nonsense that often results when
numerical data are reported. Using the blanket term “math abuse,”
Dewdney cites examples from the news media, advertising, and research
reports. The areas of application range from strategies for TV shows to
fat content in food. In a final chapter, “Everybody Is a
Mathematician,” Dewdney argues that all of us think in a mathlike way
in nonnumerical situations, and should learn to draw upon that skill
when writing or reading about numbers.

Dewdney, who wrote the “Mathematical Recreations” column in
Scientific American for eight years, presents mathematics in an engaging
way. He makes a convincing case that the public is presented with—and
in most cases accepts—gross mathematical errors in ads and news
stories—errors that, he believes, can be detected even by nonexperts.

Those mathematicians who might take issue with Dewdney’s explanations
and interpretations of the examples he provides of math abuse would
nevertheless agree that numerical data are often poorly reported in the
nontechnical press. Journalists are advised to read this book carefully.